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UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

ON THE 

Life and Charactei\ 

OF 

Terrence J. QuiNN, 

(A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK), 



DELIVERED IN IHE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 
FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. 



PUBUSETED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



/fS^^i 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
,879. 






FORTV-FIFTII CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. 

Congress of the United States, 
In the House of Representatives, Febnmry 28, 1879. 
Resolved by the House of Representatives {the Senate concurrbig), Tlmt there be 
printed twelve thousand copies of the mfmorial addresses deHvered in the Senate 
and House of Representatives upon the life and character of the late Terrence J. 
QuiNN, late a Representative from the State of New York; of which nine thou- 
sand shall be for the use of the House and three thousand for the use of the 
Senate. 
Attest : 

GEO. M. ADAMS, Chrk. 



AN ACT providing for tlie engraving and printing of portraits to accompany memorial 
addresses on tlie late Representatives Leonard, Quinn, Welch, Williams, Douglas, Hart- 
ridge, and Schleicher. 

Be it enacted by tke Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is 
hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be engraved and printed portraits of the 
late Representatives Leonard, Quinn, Welch, Williams, Douglas, Hartridge, and 
Schleicher, to accompany memorial addresses delivered in the Senate and House of 
Representatives in honor of the said deceased Representatives, and to defray the 
expenses thereof the necessary sum is hereby appropriated out of any money in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sum to be immediately available. 

Approved, March 3, 1S70. 



ADDRESSES 



Death of Terrence J. Quinn 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 



June i8, 1878. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Mayham] 
forwards to the Chair a dispatch which will be read. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Albany, N. Y., June 18, 1878. 
Hon. Stephen L. Mayham : 

Hon. Terrence J. Quinn died this morning at eleven-and-a-half o'clock. 

M. A. NOLAN. 

Mr. Mayham. Mr. Speaker, the melancholy announcement which 
it has been your duty to make cannot fail to fill each gentleman upon 
this floor with emotions of sadness. Those of us who knew our col- 
league best will feel most keenly this bereavement. The noble and 
generous attributes of head and heart of our deceased brother and 
fellow-member never failed to draw around him the warmest sympa- 
thies and attachments of all who were brought within the range of 
his social or business influences. 

At the opening of this long session of Congress he left his pleasant 
and luxurious home in his native city and entered upon this new 
sphere of usefulness, to which he had been called by the partiality of 
his neighbors, full of life and hope. Few men who entered these 
Halls gave brighter promise for long and useful life than he. To-day 



4 PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 

with the expiring moment of this session it is announced that he is 
dead, and the mourners go about the streets. By this announce- 
ment we, too, are reminded that in the midst of life we are in death. 
Mr Speaker, it is not a fitting occasion nor is it my purpose to 
occupy the attention of this House at this time in discussing the 
many noble qualities of Terrence J. Quinn as a public man, as a 
private citizen, as a friend, a husband, and father. On some other 
occasion I may attempt to do so, but it is only left for me at this 
time, as a token of respect to his memory, to move the adoption of 
the resolutions which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That a committee of seven members be appointed by the 
Speaker of this House to proceed to Albany, New York, to attend 
the funeral of said deceased. 

Resolved, That said committee be requested to prepare suitable 
resolutions, to be presented at the next session of this House in De- 
cember next, expressive of the sense of this House on this melan- 
choly event. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these proceedings to the 
Senate of the United States. 

Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect for the memory 
of the deceased this House do now adjourn. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

Accordingly (at nine o'clock and forty-eight minutes p. m.) the 
House adjourned. 



June 19, 1879. 
The Speaker announced the appointment of Mr. Lockwood of 
New York, Mr. Blount of Georgia, Mr. William P. Caldwell of 
Tennessee, Mr. Frank Jones of New Hampshire, Mr. Martin I. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 



TowNSEND of New York, Mr. Errett of Pennsylvania, and Mr. 
John L. Jones of Ohio, as the committee on the part of the House 
to attend the funeral of Mr. Terrence J. Quinn, late a Representa- 
tive from the State of New York. 



February 3, 1879. 

Mr. LocKWOOD. In compliance with the notice given some time 
ago I now submit to the House appropriate resolutions of respect to 
the memory of our late colleague, Terrence J. Quinn. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

.Resolved, That this House has heard with deep regret of the death 
of Hon. Terrence J. Quinn, a Representative from the State of 
New York. 

Resolved, That the House do now suspend the consideration of 
all other business in order to pay appropriate respect to the memory 
of the lamented deceased. 

Resolved, That in token of regret the members of this House do 
wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of this House do communicate these 
resolutions to the Senate of the United States. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased the House do now adjourn. 



^Address of Mr. J^ockwood, of ^ew Jork. 
Mr. Speaker : Mr. Quinn was born in the good old substantial 
city of Albany, on the i6th of October, 1836. His early life was 
marked by no special incident, and he entered upon the threshold of 
manhood possessed of a good education, habits of industry, a strong 
constitution, and a fine commanding figure which always made him 
a marked man wherever he went. 



ADDRESS OF MR. LoCKVVOOD ON THE 

In early manhood he displayed the noble traits of character which 
ever after distinguished him : he was true, he was honest, he was 
generous-hearted, he was brave. He acted from convictions, and 
no temptation or influence could swerve him from the path of honor 
and duty. He sympathized with the oppressed of all nations, and 
took a deep interest in the unfortunate and oppressed people of the 
land of his forefathers, whom he was ever ready to aid in their efforts 
and struggles to free themselves from English oppression and to ob- 
tain the privileges and benefits of a free government. He was truly 
patriotic; he loved his country and its free institutions, and respected 
its Constitution. And when, at the outbreak of the rebellion, he 
saw liberty threatened and the Constitution and the Union endan- 
gered, he hesitated not to consider the consequences to himself, but 
was one of the very first to volunteer to defend the honor of the na- 
tion and to maintain the supremacy of that Constitution which guar- 
anteed self-government and the liberty of its citizens. Lieutenant 
QuiNN was early in 1861 assigned to duty at Arlington Heights, and 
his was the distinction of having captured, on the morning that Col- 
onel Ellsworth was shot at Alexandria (an act which fired the north- 
em heart more than any other during the early days of the rebellion), 
the first prisoner taken in the war. Important and distinguished as 
was his eariy service. Lieutenant Quinn did not remain long in the 
service by reason of having contracted a fever, from which it is be- 
lieved he never fully recovered. His military life, though brief, was 
marked by acts of honor and of bravery. Mr. Quinn's political ca- 
reer commenced as a member of the common council of his native 
city, Albany ; an office not of honor only, but one requiring ability, 
fidelity, and untiring industry; he served in this capacity for several 
years, with great credit and honor to himself and with entire satisfac- 
tion to his constituents. 

He was subsequently, in 1873, elected to the assembly of the State 
of New York, where he distinguished himself by his strong and faith- 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUIN.N 



ful defense of the interests of the people, and earned the honor to 
rightfully bear the name of an upright legislator and an honest man. 
In 1876 when the Democracy of the capital of the Empire State were 
looking for a candidate who would pre-eminently represent the lead- 
ing ideas and issues of that now celebrated campaign in the lower 
House of Congress ; a man who from principle was opposed to all 
forms of public extravagance; a man who was in favor of the most 
rigid economy and absolute honesty in the administration of the 
National Government ; a man whose private character and political 
record would be a guarantee of his future action, but one name was 
mentioned, and that was the name of Terrence J. Quinn, whose 
memory we this day seek to honor. He was known to be honest ; 
known to be true to the principles of Democracy. Ay, more ; he 
was the open and pronounced enemy of every kind of dishonesty or 
extravagance in the administration of public affairs. He was a man 
of deeds more than of words. He believed that the permanency of 
a republican form of government depended more upon the honest 
and faithful discharge of all public duties than upon the solemn and 
pious declarations of its office-holders; that the people were bene- 
fited more by the practice of the principles of honesty, industry, and 
economy by its officers than by executive proclamations. With Mr. 
Quinn the office always sought the man, not the man the office. 
His career in this House, though short, was long enough to impress 
upon all who were brought into contact with him his high character 
and his sincere devotion to the rights and welfare of the people. 

I have spoken thus briefly of the public life and services of Mr. 
Quinn, but his character as a private citizen, a friend, a husband, and 
a father is worthy of higher praise than any language at my com- 
mand can furnish. I will only say that as a private citizen he was 
enterprising and identified with the leading industries and improve- 
ments of his native city. Whatever he undertook was bound to suc- 
ceed ; his strong business sense united with his untiring industry in- 



sured success. There was no suspicion or jealousy in his nature. 
He was frank and generous and the soul of honor. As a friend he 
was all that could be asked or expected of a brother. Of him it could 
truly be said " his words gave courage and new strength to every heart." 

As a husband and father the great shadow which fell upon that 
family fireside when his life went out warns me not to pass the 
threshold of that household thus made desolate. There is a grief 
too deep, too sacred. God alone can dispel that shadow and com- 
fort them. 

There is one incident connected with the last sad services of Mr. 
QuiNN which ought not to pass unnoticed. It illustrated so clearly 
the estimation and regard in which he was held by his neighbors and 
by those in whose midst he had passed his life. No one could wit- 
ness the vast concourse of citizens— the young, the middle-aged, and 
the aged, men and women — filling and crowding the streets through 
which was borne to its last resting place all that was mortal of their 
friend ; no one could see strong and brave men with tear-stained 
cheeks and hear from all the suppressed sob of deep, heartfelt sor- 
row; no one could look upon the emblems of mourning, as they had 
been placed, not alone upon public buildings, but upon the humblest 
cottage and the smallest workshop, without feeling that they, one 
and all, high and low, rich and poor, alike mourned from their hearts, 
mourned the loss of a true friend, a noble man. 

Nor can the bravest mortal bl.ime the tear 
Which ghtters on the bier of fallen worth. 

The life of Terrence J. Quinn had never been a selfish one. He 
loved to see others prosperous and happy. His generous heart 
had no place for enmity. He was the friend of the poor, their de- 
fender and protector, and to-day many a happy household dates its 
prosperity from some kind act of Mr. Quinn. He was loved, hon- 
ored, and respected by all who knew him ; but not more than his 
kind, generous heart deserved. 



lARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 



In the eloquent language of Rev. Father Walsh, as he pronounced 
Mr. Quinn's funeral address : 

The life of the deceased was neither a poem or contemplation. It was rather a 
history, an enthusiasm, and pastime all combined. In the higher paths of states- 
manship and mental culture, where genius and trained intellect receive the recog- 
nition which is their due, his name will never be pronounced. Among that larger 
throng, where heart is known better than mind, where friendship is prized more 
than culture, where genius, loyalty, fidelity, honesty, truth, will win the day over 
mere talent— on that honorable roll his name will be found among the foremost 
The halo that will encircle his memory as it is handed down to the future will not 
be, it is true, that of mental brilliancy ; but it will be that which will bear better 
and longer the dash, the glow of an enthusiastic, honest heart. 



ytDDRESS OF yVlR. yWAYHAM, OF J^EW JORK. 

Mr. Speaker: I should be violating a sense of duty to his mem- 
ory and doing injustice to my own feelings did I not place on record 
in these memorial exercises some feeble testimonial of the respect 
and esteem in which I held my deceased colleague. There is per- 
haps no Representative upon this floor, except his honorable succes- 
sor, Mr. Bailey, who was more intimately acquainted with Mr. 
QuiNN than myself. For many years I knew him intimately in almost 
all the relations of social and business life, and I can truly say that 
to know him intimately was to esteem him highly. Few possessed 
in a more eminent degree all those qualities of head and heart so well 
calculated to promote lasting friendship than did he, and to those 
qualities may be traced much of his success in life. Self-reliant, 
without the aid of influential friends, he carved out for himself a 
measure of success and won from others a measure of confidence 
which resulted in making him the chosen Representative of the peo- 
ple of the capital city of the Empire State in the Congress of the 
United States. 

He was emphatically a self-made man. To his sterling integrity, 
his indomitable business energy, his courteous and obliging disposi- 



lO ADDRESS OF MR. MAYHAM ON THE 

tion, his kind and unostentatious generosity, and not to the surround- 
ings of hereditary wealth or influence, did he owe his business, social, 
and political success. 

This, Mr. Speaker, is apparent when we consider the community 
in which that success was achieved and the adverse circumstances 
under which it was secured. When we remember him an ambitious 
youth, engaging in the struggle of life in that old established and con- 
servative city, with no other assistance than his strong arm to execute 
the commands of his earnest and honest heart, struggling in the 
unequal contest for honorable distinction with those who enjoyed the 
prestige of honorable and distinguished names, backed by the poten- 
tial influences of wealth, rank, and hereditary caste, and see him step 
by step winning his way up the rugged steeps of wealth, honor, and 
distinction, passing one by one of his more fortunate competitors in 
the race, until at the age of forty years he becomes their chosen Rep- 
resentative in this House, we can but pause and admire so heroic 
and worthy a character. 

Such an exhibition of confidence on the part of his fellow-citizens 
is, under all the circumstances of his case, a eulogy more significant 
and more honorable than any that can be pronounced upon this floor. 

But the election of Mr. Quinn to Congress was not the only vol- 
untary testimonial of the confidence and esteem of the citizens of 
Albany. He was frequently promoted by their partiaUty to places 
of trust and confidence. He commanded a regiment of Albany 
volunteers during the war, and served successively for several terms 
in the common council of his city and in the Legislature of his State, 
and in all of these positions acquitted himself with so much credit 
that he laid successfully the foundation for his promotion to the higher 
position to which he was chosen and which he so honorably filled at 
the time of his death. 

But, Mr. Speaker, it was not in political or official life that our 
deceased brother has .shone most conspicuously. In his business re- 




lations, in his daily intercourse with his fellow-men, his real worth 
was best known and most highly appreciated. No man ever enjoyed 
in a more eminent degree the confidence of his fellows in business 
life than did Terrence J. Quinn. His word was as sacred as his 
bond, and his honor as dear to him as the apple of his eye. But the 
true nobility of his nature exhibited itself in the most marked degree 
in his acts of benevolence and deeds of charity, everywhere bestowed 
upon poor, suffering, and oppressed humanity. His generous and 
sympathizing nature was always accessible to the appeals of the needy 
and destitute, and every deserving and meritorious charity found in 
him an active and efficient support. He was the zealous friend of 
the laboring and industrial classes, and was always on the side of the 
honest and industrious poor in their life struggle for bread. 

In social life Mr. Quinn was genial, urbane, and agreeable, and 
these qualities drew around swarms of ardent friends and admirers, 
adding largely to his popularity as a man and to his influence as a 
politician. I need not pause to inquire whether these noble qualities 
of his nature resulted to his advantage or disadvantage. It is enough 
to say that they were the natural outgrowth of the emotions of his 
noble and generous heart. 

Mr. Speaker, there was one other relation in the life of my colleague 
to which I have not referred, more sacred than polirical, social, or 
business life, in which he displayed the true nobility of his nature and 
the highest order of his being, and that was his domestic relations. 
I will not invade the sancrity of that stricken and bereaved family 
circle further than to say that no more kind, affectionate, and devoted 
husband and father ever occupied that sacred relation. 

To say that he was without faults would be to attempt to bestow 
upon him the attributes of Deity. That he had fraildes and weak- 
nesses is evidence of his humanity. Let us cherish his memory and 
seek to emulate his many virtues; and in remembering him let us not 
forget that we too are mortal. 



/Address of ^VIr. ^ones, of pHio 

Mr. Speaker : Lucian in his dialogues of the dead represents Mer- 
cury as classing the old among those who died unlamented. Such a 
classification would certainly not be correct of the aged who die in our 
day, but their death is in harmony with nature, and we are less agi- 
tated when they are removed from us, because it accords with our 
expectations. When the young, however, or when a strong man 
dies, to our grief and sorrow is added a feeling that it might have 
been otherwise; that it might have been avoided by caution could it 
have been foreseen or anticipated, and for this reason we give them 
up with greater reluctance. As the ancients expressed it, the young 
are forced from life as fires are extinguished by throwing water on 
them, while old men expire of themselves like a flame v.'hen all its 
fuel is spent; or as fruit, when unripe, requires some force to part it 
from its bough, when fully matured drops of itself, so young people 
die from something unnatural, but the old from mere ripeness. We 
have but little knowledge of our own physical being. Our bodies 
are so delicately and mysteriously adjusted that we know about them 
substantially nothing. It is not impossible that man may yet attain 
unto such wisdom or knowledge of himself as to be able to prolong 
his days until he reaches the "sere and yellow leaf," but until greater 
progress is made in physical science and the laws of health are bet- 
ter understood, until we understand better the relations we sustain to 
our external surroundings and know more of what our bodies can 
endure, however discordant it may be with our feelings, we are nev- 
ertheless compelled to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the vigor 
of youth and the strength of manhood are, alike with the feebleness 
of old age, defenseless against the approach of death. These 
thoughts intrude themselves on the mind in contemplating the dearii 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE .1. QUINN. 



of Teerence J. QuiNN. He was in his prime. He was bom at 
Albany, New York, October i6, 1836, and died June 18, 1878, in the 
forty-second year of his age. He was a man of rare physical devel- 
opment and of finest form. When he took his seat in this the Forty- 
fifth Congress, to all outward appearance he gave promise of long 
life, but the subtle foe of disease had already found a lodgment in his 
system and was then gradually undermining a constitution that 
seemed almost perfect. 

His election to Congress was his first introduction to the general 
public, and he died upon the threshold of a promising public career. 
We have no such criterion by which to judge of the pubhc worth of 
those who die young or at the commencement of their public life, as 
in the case of the aged public servant who dies at its close, and after 
having been long identified with the public history of his country. 
In the latter case we have, as a basis of an estimate, the principles 
with which he was long identified, the public policies he originated, 
and the great public measures he championed. In the former we 
are confined to the narrow limit of local and State affairs, and to those 
indications of promise that exhibit themselves in an unusual zeal for 
distinguished public service, and have been manifested by great 
fidelity in the execution of private and local public trusts. In the 
case of those who die young or at the beginning of their public career, 
their reputation depends largely if not wholly upon the formed judg- 
ment of the people in the locahty where they are generally known. 
This local estimate of character is frequently the most satisfactory 
and reliable. Those who have known us intimately in the closer 
relations of life as associate, friend, and neighbor; who have watched 
us in the discharge of our duties as priviate citizens as well as in the 
discharge of public duty in local positions where every act is under 
the immediate eye and inspection of those whose interests are directly 
affected, are, after all, the best judges of our real merit. Measuring 
the character of the deceased by this test, we have the most indubita- 




ble proof that "an excellent spirit was in him." He always lived in 
Albany, the city of his birth, and the story of his life is fittingly told, 
and the esteem in which he was universally held by those associated 
with him from childhood fully appears in the unanimous action of the 
various organizations (at least twelve in number) to which he be- 
longed, and the official action of the common council of the city of 
Albany, had on the occasion of his death. I know of no more ap- 
propriate or friendly service in my power to render the memory of 
the deceased than to place on public record (which I take the liberty 
of doing) these testimonials. They are as follows : 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF 

The death of Hon. Terrence J. Quinn occasions sadness and sorrow through- 
out our community. Few of our public men have been so well known, and few 
have died leaving so large a circle of personal friends to mourn their loss. Bom 
and reared in this city, his whole life was in full view of his fellow-citizens, and 
after a long career of public usefulness and while performing the duties of a posi- 
tion of prominence and honor he passes away. Three times elected to the common 
council, his record is made the more brilliant by his patriotically responding, while 
a member of that body, to the first call for soldiers to defend the nation's life and 
honor. 

As alderman, as member of assembly, and as Congressman, he was zealous in 
the discharge of his duties, and ever watchful for the best interests of his constit- 
uents. The records show how uniformly his vote was on the side of justice and 
honesty. Identified with a great business interest in our city, his loss will be se- 
riously felt, and as a citizen, neighbor, and friend his death occasions universal 
gritf. 

We do therefore give expression to the sorrow occasioned by the death of so faith- 
ful a citizen, so devoted a patriot, so honest and valuable a public oflScer. Extend- 
ing our condolence to the family and relatives of the honored dead, and especially 
to the chief magistrate of our city, between whom and the deceased there existed 
such cordial and fraternal relations, we place on record this tribute to one who 
leaves to his children the priceless legacy of a good name, and whose memory will 
be long cherished by the entire community. 

Resolved, That we attend his funeral in a body, and that a committee of seven be 
appointed by the president to make the necessary arrangements. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE M'QUADE STEAMER ASSOCIATION. 

In Memoriam.— Death has again invaded our ranks, not unexpectedly, it is true, 
still the pangs at parting, with one so closely identified with our organization are 



none the less poignant. Terrence J. QuiNN, honored as he had been by his fel- 
low-citizens, and beloved by those most intimate with him, ever held the highe I 
rank in the respect and admiration of his associates in the McQuade Association. 
His genial disposition, his noble and manly qualities, his earnest and never-ceasing 
attachment and devotion to his friends, his enduring love and esteem for all his 
companions, and his utterly unselfish nature— traits of character so distinguished 
and commendable— won for him friends wherever he was known. He was ever 
gentle and kind. His friendship was indeed aboon, as was indicated by the warmth 
of his heart and a generosity without limit. 

We who knew so well and honored him so truly while living, sadly pay tribute 
t o his memory by this record. Words are insufficient to give full expression to our 
feelings of deep regret, but silent tears that cannot be expressed will serve as mys- 
tic tokens of the sorrow that pervades our broken circle. 

May God watch over and protect the widow and the fatherless Uttle ones, and 
visit them with most abundant consolation. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE OLD GUARD OF THE ALBANY BURGESSES CORPS. 

Terrence J. QuiNN but yesterday occupied a place in the rank of the Old Guard, 
and we desire to express the respect that we entertained for him while living; 
Tlierefore, 

Resolved, That in the death of Terrence J. Quin.n, a member of the Old Guard 
of the Albany Burgesses Corps, we are deprived of a noble comrade, a p.itriotic 
and brave soldier, a generous and genial companion, and with deep sorrow we 
mourn his death. 

Resolved, That the Old Guard attend his funeral in a body, and wear the usual 
badge of mourning. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family of the deceased, 
and published in the daily papers. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE ALBANY BURGESSES CORPS. 

Resolved, That the company receives the intelligence of the death of Hon. Ter- 
rence J. QuiNN with emotions of sincere sorrow, audit proffers to his family and 
other relatives our heartfelt condolence. The deceased maintained in all his rela- 
tions of life the character of a man notable for integrity, candor, generosity, and 
that cheerfulness of disposition that gave a glow of happiness to the circle of his 
society. In his public hfe and in the discharge ol the duties imposed upon him in 
the several offices which by the suffrages of his fellow-citizens he was chosen to fill, 
he displayed a marked intelligence, uprightness, and sense of justice. As a mem- 
ber of this company his memory is especially cherished. As such member he dis- 
played those qualities which characterize the true soldier and gentleman. It is a 
source of deep regret that at such an early period of life the company is compelled 
to place his name upon the roll of its honored dead. 

Resolved, That the company painfully regrets that by reason of its intended ab- 
sence from the city on the occasion it will be unable to attend the funeral, and that 
the flag upon the armory be placed in proper position, that these resolutions be 
|)ul)lished, and a copy thereof be transmitted to the family of the deceased. 



JACKSON CORPS. 

We, the members of the Albany Jackson Corps, deeply and sincerely rc'jret that 
we are called upon to record and file away among the archives of our corps the sad 
intelligence of the death of Colonel Terrence J. QuiNN, our chief of staff, and 
one who, more than any other member, had, by his constant kindness, goodness, 
and social qualities, won the love and respect of his fellows. 

It is with mingled feelings of pride and sorrow that we are enabled to say that 
he was one of us, and to recall the many pleasant hours that we have spent with 
him. 

It would ill become us at this time to attempt to write the life of Colonel Ter- 
RENXE J. QuiNN, for it is well known to all. But we can say, and we say it from 
our heart of heart, that the record of his early life is dear to us ; that the record of 
his mihtary career is dear to us; that the record of his success in public life, in the 
councils of the State and of the nation, is dear to us; but that dearer to us than 
all is the memory of our connection and association with him in the meetings, 
parades, and the social gatherings of this corps. 

In closing this brief tribute to the memory of our friend, we would only request 
of those who were bound to him by earth's closest ties that we may be permitted 
to mingle our tears with theirs over the grave of him we loved so well. 

RESOLUTIONS OF EXEMPT FIREMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 

Whereas the Exempt Firemen's Association, in common with thousands of the 
citizens of Albany, have received the sad intelligence of the death of our late com- 
rade and associate, Hon. T. J. QuiNN, with feelings of sorrow and regret, and be- 
lieve that a tribute to his memory is due : Therefore, 

Resolved, That we shall ever cherish with the warmest feelings the recollections 
of the many services he has rendered to this association, his social virtue, his hon- 
est and upright manhood, and the many qualities of head and heart which in all his 
intercourse with us commended him to our admiration and friendship, regard, and 
affection. 

Resolved, That we sympathize with the afflicted family and friends of our late 
brother in the hour of their trial and grief. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the city papers and a copy 
thereof be transmitted to his family. 

RESOLUTIORS OF DAWSON POST NO. 63, GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 

Whereas another comrade has fallen from our ranks, and the post is in mourn- 
ing at the loss of one of its first and most faithful members: Therefore, 

Resolved, That in the death of Comrade T. J. QuiNN the command has lost one 
of its most valued and prominent members— a man liberal and generous as he was 
loyal and brave; a man whose genial manner drew to him many friends, and 
whose kindness of heart won their admiration and esteem ; one whose success in 
business and high political honors seemed a source of personal gratification and 
pleasure to all who m.ide his acquaintance. While we are grieving that from our 



ranks has fallen a brave, manly, and esteemed comrade, we note with a sad and 
melancholy pleasure the many earnest tributes offered on every side to his worth 
and fidelity as a cit zen, a soldier of the Republic, a public official, a comrade, and 
a friend. In every position and capacity he acted the brave, manly, and honor- 
able part. While serving the city, State, and nation in high and distinguished 
positions, he was ever ready to serve and assist the humblest in the community. 
The death of such a man, while yet in his youth, in the midst of his usefulness and 
honors, is a very proper subject for the grief and universal regret felt throughout 
the city of his birth, his home and friends. 

Resolved, That this post attend the funeral of our late comrade in a body, and 
that these proceedings be published in the daily papers and a copy transmitted to 
the family of the deceased. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE OFFICERS AND EX-OFFICERS TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT 
N. G. S. N. Y. 

Whereas it has pleased the Almighty to take from our midst our esteemed and 
worthy comrade and ex-officer Terrence J. QuiNN: Therefore, 

Reso'.veJ, That in the death of Terrence J. Quinn we are called upon to mourn 
the loss of a patriotic and brave comrade and soldier, one who lias been one of the 
pillars of the old Twenty-fifth. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the family of the deceased, and that 
the officers and ex-officers attend the funeral in a body, wearing the usual badge ol 
mourning, and that the above resolutions be published in the Albany papers, and 
that a copy of the same be sent to the bereaved family, and that they be placed on 
of the board of officers. 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE ST. AGNES CEMETERY ASSOCIATION. 

Whereas the death of our valued friend and associate, Hon. Terrence J. QuiNN, 
demands some proper expression of our appreciation and regard. 

Resolved, That the trustees of St. Agnes Cemetery unite in the general regret 
occasioned by the loss of a gentleman so highly esteemed and respected in this 
community, and so frequently honored by his fellow-citizens with important evi- 
dences of pubHc confidence. Always genial and courteous in his ii^tercourse with 
members of this board, he is particularly entided to our grateful remembrance for 
the warm interest he manifested in all that concerned the welfare of this organi- 
zation. 

Resolved, That we tender our sympathies to his bereaved family and relatives ; 
that we attend his funeral in a body; and that these resolutions, signed by the 
president and secretary, be published in the Albany papers. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE ALBANY EMMET GUARDS. 

Comrades, again we are called from our usual avocations to cluster around the 

fond memories of one who has ever been dear to us. While some of us have shared 

his early friendship and watched his brilliant career, when exalted by his fellow-cit- 



OF MR. JOXES OX THE 



—•.ejnty, ai>i pzirso^sa. it was vi;.i r.-M^■.^ 
.hfd Hs onxrird coarst; so ^cw. \i-ih 
. -er tc>giKber iad seet to ccris-ls «;h 

_ - >L=^ c=r se=i=ei;a, 
;'-rr Cr«i:or Kir his 



ssid, "\V«ilc 
kepi the &iti ; . 

. 7T ot his berth hss kisi a p^riot 2.r 

iKt bis pasriotk^ at ibe ixs^ c :' 

- -^; of daty, te only Aoi^ 



.^ u> UK>>e bom oa tbe sotL 

: ve anod ibe fsaeal ia a bcx^, aad that &e9e lesalatiaBS be 
_ ri^ of iectT. xada oo;?' of tbe sxae be sent to tke feaar o{ u:e 
' .^ . .il^^ esjered oe tbe miaKes ol tbe ocginTnTViw ia £nIL 
sxsoLrriass iw the sobest FintTT assooatiox. 
^V'b=rxs liis assodaaoa hsvaig lesaed of ibe deaih of Hon. T. J. Qvixx. i= 

Xaakv^ T&st ia tbe dmb of TSSJUCSCS J. Qnvx tbi£ sssodaaoBbK laei t:± 
aa ineparabte ksss. Dnisg ^ ki^ oaeaecooa vitb ts as sa active xaember of 
ov a(s»iiatioBvebamIeaiBed«oiespccxbiBfcrarasemxa]T<iaa&iesof bead 
aadbesit«b>ilsDpr«-e9meu}T<£5tii^BsiedIai; fcsrlas ataaT soeniss aasi- 
fesssboK of STBfadiT vitb tbe oiifecis of tbe Robot Tmrnn Assodadoa. 

Jlestistai, TTiaias aioaikofrepeafcr Ks»ie«)iyAe«e»bersof this jBsoca- 
tjoB »in anead hs JOTeril ia a body awl *ffl »«» tbeir asad ba^ of BOBiHi^. 

Tbe profosioa of fiovas dut vere stievn br kind bands vpoa xhe 
casket cootainmg bis remains, and beneath viiici) it vas literally 
boned, bare long since peiidiM^ bat these sentimeais aad testimo- 
nials, spoacaneoody uttered, from tbe beai^ of those who knew him 
best and loved him mcsi, wreathed his mei::;- ".r. ; ^-r'.^ .i :'-^; " '. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 19 

never fade. The flags tliat drooped at half-mast on his funeral occa- 
sion have been again run up to their accustomed places; the emblems 
of mourning that draped* steamer and public hall, and the crape that 
added a somber tint to the soft and mellow light that filled the mar- 
ble temple (a marvel of artistic beauty) in which his funeral obse- 
quies were held, have been removed; the solemn and mournful strains 
of cathedral music that floated on the air have died away in the dis- 
tance ; but his memory survives, and will ever be fondly cherished by 
the people of the locality in which he lived. He was universally 
popr.'.ar, and his friends were numbered among all classes of citizens ; 
but it was apparent to those who looked into the faces of the thou- 
sands who stood around his grave that his home was in the hearts of 
the common people. He was admired more for his social qualities 
than for his intellectual attainments. His education was acquired in 
the common schools and in the academy at Albany. Without great 
learning, he had the gendeness of manner and quietude of demeanor 
indicative of scholarship. Without great culture, he had that deli- 
cacy of taste and keen sense of propriety that are among the highest 
gifts of nature. He was an active and enterprising citizen, a kind 
and considerate neighbor, a genial and jovial companion, a faithful 
and devoted friend, an indulgent father, an appreciative and loving 
husband, a modest and useful public servant, and a spirited and 
unselfish patriot. 

He was generously benevolent and possessed an integrity of char- 
acter that commanded not only the esteem and confidence, but the 
admiration of all who were brought into contact with him through 
friendly intercourse or business relations. His record in every posi- 
tion of trust held by him is without spot or blemish, and he leaves to 
his wife and children the imperishable legacy of a good name, that 
inheritance that is beyond the gift of fortune. One of the marked 
traits in his character was his devotion to whatever cause he espoused. 
Few men would enter upon an undertaking with greater energy or 



MR. JONES ON THE 



risk more for success. It is said enthusiasm never calculates its sac- 
rifices, and in this sense he was an enthusiast. He would not hesi- 
tate to pledge life, fortune, and sacred honor in a cause that was 
dear to his heart. He was not without ambition, and the spirit of 
freedom burned in his bosom like a subterranean fire, ready to burst 
forth whenever and wherever an opportunity presented itself to strike 
a blow for liberty. This spirit frequently leads men into dangerous 
and hazardous enterprises, and sometimes, when not properly re- 
strained, into ill-starred expeditions; but it is so rare, so noble, and 
lofty that, notwithstanding the irregularities to which it is subject, the 
world instinctively bows to it and renders homage to its possessor. 

Had young Quinn Hved in the days our Revolution this spirit 
would have induced him to join the patriotic youth of Litchfield in 
opposition to the tories and in readiness to march to meet the British, 
as it induced him in 1861, when Fort Sumter was fired on, to beamong 
the very first to enlist in the defense of the old flag, and enabled him, 
as is claimed by his friends, and in which claim he took a just pride, 
to be the first to capture a prisoner in the war for the suppression of 
the rebellion. It would have led him under a favorable opportunity, 
like Kosciusko and La Fayette, to fight for freedom in a foreign land; 
to follow Byron to his death at Missolonghi in the cause of Grecian 
liberty; or, like Emmet, to ascend the scaffold in behalf of the free- 
dom of Ireland, the home of his ancestors. In my judgment, the 
most distinguishable characteristic of the deceased was the posses- 
sion of that intense public spirit and love of glory without which no 
man can be useful to his country. 

In obedience to the order of the House, your committee, of which 
I was a member, attended his funeral. His body sleeps in St. Agnes 
Cemetery, a beautiful hillside on the banks of the Upper Hudson, 
that overlooks his native city, whose people he worthily represented 
on this floor and whose affection for him will be a lasting monument 
to his memory. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 



Address of yVln. Paldwell, op J'ennessee. 

Mr. Speaker : Gentlemen who did not know Mr. Quinn person- 
ally may recall his open, genial face, his imposing person and quiet, 
courteous, dignified bearing. Serving upon the same committee, 
and having frequent occasion to confer with him in relation to the 
business of the committee, I had some opportunity to form a just 
estimate of his character. It was easily discerned that beneath a 
seemingly cold and reserved exterior there beat a heart as warm as 
ever animated a human frame. Growing gradually but surely in the 
esteem and confidence of his colleagues, it was painful to perceive 
the signs of declining health, which becoming manifest some weeks 
before he ceased to attend the sessions of the House, threatened an 
early severance of his connection with it. It was easy to believe 
that such a man would enjoy the confidence and esteem of any com- 
munity to which he might attach himself; but I was scarcely pre- 
pared by my brief acquaintance with him for what I discovered to 
be in the city of his birth and residence the exact state of public 
feeling, when the final summons did come that called him from the 
walks of men — 

To that grand immortal sphere 

Beyond this realm of broken ties. 

As a member of the committee charged by this House with the 
melancholy duty of attending his obsequies, the evidences of a deep, 
all-pervading grief, as for some great, unspeakable public calamity, 
impressed me on every hand. Verily was the city of Albany in the 
habiliments of woe, with ashes upon her head and tears upon her 
cheek. The thronged and darkly-draped streets; the imposing pro- 
cession; the gorgeous edifice, with its concourse of many thousands, 
while other thousands asked in vain for admittance; the mass of 



,2 ADDRESS OF MR. CALDWELL ON THE 

requiem ; the plaintive wail of choir and organ surging above a sea 
of bowed heads ; the tears of silent mourners and sighs of anguii^hed 
hearts, all told but too plainly that the people mourned no ordinary 
loss. 

I need not inform you — 

Said the eloquent father who delivered the funeral oration — 
what man has gone lo his last home. The very children on the street will tell you 
it is Terren'CE J. QULVN— the genial, the large-hearted, the sternly honest Ter- 
RENCE J. QuiNN. For weeks he has seen death steadily, noiselessly approacliing, 
and like a Christian man, true to his past life, he prepared to meet his Judge. 

Then followed, Mr. Speaker, an oration of such rare beauty and 
excellence on the life of the deceased, embodying so just an analysis 
of his character founded on an intimate social acquaintance, that I 
shall be pardoned for reading several extracts that they may become, 
as they deserve to become, a part of the records of this House and 
the country : 

You all know the outward story of his life. For many years he has stood before 
the public, modestly accepting the honors and scrupulously discharging the duties 
which that appreciative public saw fit to lavish upon him. We will try and 
tell briefly the story of his inward life as we loiow it and as we heard it told by 
others. We will do his memory no injustice by e.xtravagant praise on the one 
hand or petulant disparagement on the other. Every line is unique in itself. It 
forms a perfect picture by itself. Yet lives may be classified : some lives are 
poems, some histories, some contemplations, some suflerings, some enthusiasms, 
some pastimes. The life of the deceased was neither a poem nor a contemplation. 
It was rather a history, an enthusiasm, and a pastime all combined. 

In the higher paths of statesmanship and mental culture, where genius and 
trained intellect receive the recognition which is their due, his name will never 
be pronounced. Among that larger throng where heart is known better than 
mind— where friendship is prized more than culture, where generous loyalty, 
fidelity, honesty, truth, will win the day over mere talent — on that honorable roll 
his name will be found among the foremost. The halo that will encircle his mem- 
ory as it is handed down to the future will not be, it is true, tliat of mental brill- 
iancy, but it will be that which will wear better and longer— the dash, the glow of 
an enthusiastic, honest heart. 

This wonderful development of the affectionate and social traits of his character 
made him intensely popular. His is one of those rare exceptional lives which ter- 
minate amid universal grief. I doubt if in the forty-two years of his life he made 
an enemy who to this day retains any hostility against him. He not only made 

friends but he kept llicni. Among all classes, rich and poor, young and old, he 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 



was given a passport to their warmest affection. He never forgot a friend, and he 
never remembered an enemy. An utter stranger to formality and ceremony, his 
character was spared that stiffness which would unfit him for companionship 
among his inferiors. In his presence every one felt at ease, and where his friends 
represented so many social grades the marvel is how he could be at home with 
them all. 

The deceased had strong attachments and inexhaustible affections. His purest, 
tenderest love he reserved for his church, his home, his country, and the poor. 
He remained ever a sincere, earnest Catholic. His devotion was unostentatious 
and simple, just hke the man. His faith was fervent and unquestioning, yet in- 
telligent. 

In his home he displayed the tenderness and simplicity of his character. No 
husband could be more devoted and no father more affectionate. It will indeed be 
a dark home where the glow of his love has gone out on the hearth-stone forever, 
and his memory will but sadly replace his bright, sunny nature. His charities 
were innumerable. No petition was returned without its response. Churches, 
schools, and asylums were the beneficiaries of his generosity. Only God knows 
the amount he expended in private charities. The tears and prayers of the poor 
will follow him to-day to his last resting place, and no tribute we pay him will sur- 
pass theirs in sincerity and intensity. 

There was one marked feature in his character to which I would give a special 
prominence to-day, and that is his unyielding, unpurchasable honesty. In all the 
positions of honor and trust he has occupied, never yet has there been breathed a 
suspicion of dishonesty against his untarnished name. Holding office at a time 
when official corruption was alarmingly defiant, the putrid waters of dishonesty 
never rose high enough to wet the soles of his shoes. He was honest by convic- 
tion and principle. He ever scorned to employ the two props of expediency and 
dread of exposure to support his official honor. "A good name is better than 



preciou: 



ointment. 



Here in presence of this dead servant of the people, here before so many dis- 
tinguished living servants of the people, I ask no forgiveness for thus obtruding 
on your attention the private and public integrity of Terrence J. QuiNN. While 
I am actuated with no desire of urging this honorable characteristic on your notice 
by way of contrast or warning to others, feehng how much the welfare of our com- 
mon country is identified with honest administration, I would present this proud 
distinction of his character for your respectful consideration and imitation. With 
you I solemnly regret that decadence of our public moral standard which con- 
strains us to offer the incense of our praise to an honest man. It does not now 
come within my province to declare whether this moral declension comes from the 
wrong-doing of our public servants or from the low moral plane from which the 
great American people have begun to view their destiny and their obligations. To 
this general regret it is some palliation, however, to know that there is yet stored 
away in the American heart sufficient lightning to blast brazen proffigacy, and 
treasured up in it reverential respect and gratitude for the one who lays aside his 
stewardship without dishonor or reproach. 



ADDRESS OF MR. 



JALDWELL ON THE 



To this just and tender tribute to the memory of the deceased little 
can be added. Had he chosen his own eulogist the task could not 
have been better performed. The picture is one of many striking 
points, drawn by the hand of a master, presenting a life-sized view 
of a " genial, large-hearted, sternly honest man." Contemplating it, 
my thoughts involuntarily turn to a recent page in our country's 
history, which must hereafter be read with a melancholy pride and 
interest. I refer to the dark days 

When the blessed seals 
That close the pestilence were broke 
And crowded cities wailed its stroke. 

In its track stalked distress, famine, death, dismay. A cry of anguish 
was wafted on the lightning's wing. Arms were extended, doors 
were opened, treasures were unlocked. The nation rose up to honor 
itself and a common humanity. The ravages of the destroyer were 
stayed and himself forced back to his lair in the Indies. It was the 
work of large-hearted men and large hearted women, who, thank 
God! can be appropriated by no one of the so-called sections of our 
common country. What I know personally, what I have collected 
from others, assures me that, had he lived, Mr. Quinn would have 
been one of the foremost in that glorious work of mercy. His gen- 
erous soul would have reveled in an occasion which furnished such 
scope for the indulgence of its proverbially kind and charitable in- 
stincts. 

His labors have ceased, and at midday. He has gone to his ac- 
count, when it was but high noon. Whatever of him that was mor- 
tal molders in the narrow subterraneous cabin, where neither praise 
nor censure can reach him more. The heart that was the seat of 
friendship, erewhile warmed by a divine enthusiasm in the cause of 
human liberty and human enjoyment, perishes in its communion 
with the darkness and the worm. The eye that glowed with social 
love and beamed through the dews of human kindness is dimmed 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 



25 



and sightless. The grief and tenderness and shadow of the tomb 
are over and around us,and we stand perplexed before the unsolved, 
insolvable mystery of death. 

The earth has been despoiled of her secrets and the heavens have 
unfolded their mysteries to man's persistent inquiries. The primal 
forces of nature have been impressed into human service. Man has 
made the winds his servants, the seas his highways, the fire his steed, 
the lightnings his couriers, annihilating time and space, and rushing 
on to the accomplishment of the seemingly impossible. 

But in all this wonderful career he makes no advance toward the 
solution of the awful mystery of death — as dark and impenetrable 
now as when the morning stars first sang together. The poet and 
the philosopher have said " there is no death," but only a change in 
form or place or state of what is in itself imperishable. The human 
body dissolves into other forms equally visible, tangible, transitory ; 
but where are the yearnings, the ambitions, the enthusiasms of the 
lately imprisoned soul ? " Through what variety of untried being, 
through what new scenes and changes " must they pass ? This 
mighty problem may give us pause, and we find repose alone in the 
conviction that there is here at least an after-life, where they shall 
exist and flourish in all that perpetuates the remembrance of good 
men upon earth. The unselfish service of an honest public servant 
survives " in the deep engraved lines of public gratitude and in the 
respect and homage of mankind." The philanthropist that seeks 
affliction's lowly bed lives in the memory of the poor, whose grief he 
hath softened, and whose distress he hath relieved. To patriot hearts, 
loving honest, incorruptible administration of public trust ; to the 
poor and to the ministers of God's mercy everywhere, may be left 
with perfect confidence the name and fame of the " genial, large- 
hearted, sternly honest " Terrence J. Quinn. 



Address of Mr. Bailey, of New York. 

Mr. Speaker : That greatest of all great poets and dramatists, 
Shakespeare, long since immortalized in verse a sentiment so sadly 
and signally verified in the obituary history of the Forty-fifth Con- 
gress : 

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, 

But in battahons. 

Although his name stands among the very first in that long death- 
roll of our deceased colleagues I desire, even at this distant day, but 
at the first opportunity offered, to briefly present my tribute of respect 
to him, — my predecessor, my neighbor, and my friend, the late Colonel 
Terrence J. QUINN. 

Mr. QuiNN was born of Irish parentage on the i6th day of October, 
1836, in the city of Albany, New York, where he continued to reside 
until the date of his death, June 18, 1878, in the forty-second year of 
his age. He was educated in the common schools and academy of 
his native city, and early in life entered his father's brewery, where, 
by close application and assiduous attention to business, he soon be- 
came an expert and skillful brewer, that made him well and favora- 
bly known in that line throughout the country; and subsequently in 
his career and at the time of his death he was the senior member of 
a firm that commandud an extended and lucrative business. 

When the first tocsin of our unfortunate civil war was sounded in 
our northern inland cities and volunteers were called for to preserve 
and maintain the unity and honor of the nation, Mr. Quinn, then 
lieutenant of a militia company, was among the very first to offer his 
services as a soldier to the Government; and in April, 1861, on yon- 
der Arlington Heights, where to-day arc quietly sleeping so many of 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 27 

the nation's honored dead, might have been found our friend in the 
full and faithful discharge of his duties as lieutenant of Company B, 
Twenty-fifth Regiment New York State Militia Volunteers. 

The regiment was called into service for three months, and subse- 
quently re-enlisted for three months longer, during which time Lieu- 
tenant QuiNN remained with it, endearing himself to all his comrades 
in arms, and performing, with his company and regiment, very efficient 
military service for the government. 

It was there, on the now peaceful and prosperous soil of the Old 
Dominion State, amid he hardships, privations, and exposures of an 
active soldier's life, that the seeds of malara and disease were im- 
planted in his system that eventually resulted in his untimely death; 
whereby a loving wife lost a devoted husband, minor children the re- 
quisite care and protection of a fond and affectionate father, the city of 
his birth a valued and useful citizen, prominent in al good works of 
charity, legislation, and reform, and the nation an honored and trusted 
Representative in Congress. 

Mr. QuiNN was several times elected to the common council of his 
native city, was conspicuous and prominent in its social, religious, 
and business enterprises, and once creditably and worthily represented 
his assembly district in the legislature of the State. In all these 
various and important positions he served his constituents with fidelity 
and honesty; and, whether as a trusted servant of the people in his 
official life, or in his large and extensive business pursuits and under- 
takings, his honor was never sullied, his integrity never questioned. 

In these days of venality and profligacy in official stations, in these 
modern extravagant times when the inordinate love of gain and lust 
of gold almost wreck the honest purposes of the heart, how refreshing 
and how pleasant to remember that our friend was above them all! 

Faults though he may have had— and who has not?— no one in all 
this broad land can point to a dishonest or ignoble act in the whole 
line of his private or public life. 



Mr. QuiNN was as firm in his friendships and as constant in his loves 
i the granite columns of your Capitol. 



The spring, the s 
The chilling autumn, angry winter change 
Their wonted liveries ; 

but in him, and with him, there was no change. 

Whether plebeian or patrician blood trickled through his veins it 
warmed and nourished a loyal Irish heart that welled with generous 
sympathy for all mankind. The toiling, honest laborer in his simple 
habits and homespun garments, and the man of wealth, with its at- 
tendant luxury and aristocracy of style, were alike to him in public 
or in private places. 

While he was the recipient of repeated local, municipal, and mili- 
tary honors at the hands of his fellow-citizens, he was the daily dis- 
penser of a practical charity that gave essential encouragement to 
some, the much-needed employment to others, and the warm-hearted 
hand and genial smile to all. 

Mr. Speaker, our deceased colleague may be somewhat forgotten 
here in these legislative halls, in the flight of time and in the whirl 
of an active, busy life ; but in the city of his birth, where he lived 
and died, among his neighbors and daily associates, he will ever be 
remembered. His goodness of heart, his kindness to all, his loyalty 
to friendships, his love of country and of home, his unproclaimed and 
numerous charities, have and will cause thousands to repeat the 
words of the poet: 

Kind gentleman, your pains 
Are registered where every day I turn 
The leaf to read them. 

Colonel QuiNN sleeps to-day on the banks of the historic Hudson — 
that calm and peaceful sleep! And whether his final resting-place be 
manded, as now, by the pure white snow of our northern winter, or 
when the soft and balmy breezes of the South shall come up to us 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 29 

again in spring and summer time, and unforgetting hearts and loving 
hands shall scatter on his grave in rich profusion the beautiful flowers, 

That have tales of the joyous woods to tell, 
Of the free blue streams and the glowing sky, 

let US all remember the story of his life; that life so warm-hearted, 
so genial, and so kind to every traveler along its pleasant and sunny 
path ; that life so full of blessings and of joy to the humble and the 
poor. And while tenderly remembering all this, let us not forget the 
solemn lessons of the hour: 

Sed omnes una manet nox 
Et calcanda semel via leti. 



yiDDRESS OF yVlR. pRRET, OF J^ENNSYL VANIA. 

Mr. Speaker : In the great seething caldron of mankind the dis- 
appearance of one head from above the surface is neither noticed nor 
noticeable by the general mass. Of the thousand miUions who in- 
habit the earth some are disappearing every moment, and others are 
taking their places, with no apparent change in the order of things, 
and with nothing to mark the place where one went down or another 
came up. One man among such a mass is so small in his proportion 
to the rest as scarcely to be worthy of taking into account. Thus 
men grow up in the great struggle for life, striving for power, for 
place, for pre-eminence, and for distinction ; and after attracting the 
attention of the few who make a small circle around them, for a brief 
moment, are finally swallowed up in the great vortex which ingulfs 
all in oblivion. We hate and we love; we admire and we detest; 
we strive and are striven with; but while we flatter ourselves that we 
are the observed of all observers, the millions upon millions of people 
revolve around and over and under us, totally unconscious of our 
existence and unheeding all that interests us. 



ADDRESS OF MR. ERRET ON THE 



But while to the great mass of humanity it can matter nothing 
whether members of Congress live or die, or whether there even be 
such a body as Congress, to us it is a matter of moment, and it is 
fitting that we should stop for a little while, and mark an event that 
stirs our emotions, excites our kindliest recollections, and reminds 
most of us how rapidly we are nearing the sunset of life. 

It was just as the long session of this Congress was drawing to a 
close, and but shortly after our hearts had been stirred by tidings of 
the sad death of Mr. Leonard, of Louisiana, that we were starded 
by news of the death of our genial friend from the Albany district of 
the State of New York, Terrence J. Quinn. Two deaths in one 
session, and so close to each other, were startling. We have since, 
it is true, since this session began, been called to mourn over a still 
greater mortality among those who took their places in this Hall in 
October, 1877; but at that time the loss of two members was more 
than usually astonishing. 

Over the feehng of gladness which grows out of the prospect of 
returning home at the end of a long session there came a cloud of 
sadness at having to part forever with one of our number who had 
endeared himself to all who knew him by his gendeness and kind- 
ness and by that pleasant personal intercourse which made him as 
much esteemed here as he was beloved at home. 

Behold, to be honest is bet'.er than riches, and a good name is better than the 
most precious ointment. 

How highly he was regarded among his own people and how sin- 
cerely his death was deplored, we whose sad duty it was to accom- 
pany his remains to the tomb had the fullest opportunity of learning. 
The grief over his death was as genuine as it was widespread. It 
reached out into all classes and conditions of men ; and if ever a 
Representative was appreciated by his constituency, surely Ter- 
rence J. Quinn was that man Beloved as a brother while living, 
he was mourned as a brother when dead ; and although the world 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 31 

may pass on and forget him, the men of this generation, in Albany, 
will ever bear him in the kindliest remembrance. The highest reward 
which a Representative can receive — the approval and esteem of the 
people among whom he lived — was his in the fullest sense. And if 
to the world at large his death was but of little moment, to us who 
knesy him it was an event full of sadness, and one that evoked the 
deepest and sincerest regret. 

To the last hour, when the last man shall die, 

And the race be extinct, death never came 

Nor ever will come without apprehension. 

The dying may be ready to depart, 

For sleep and death are one to them ; but we 

Who love them and survive them— unto whom 

The places they once filled are filled no more. 

For whom a light has gone out of the sun, 

A shadow fallen at noonday — unto us 

Who love our dead, death always comes too soon, 

A consternation and a lamentation. 

The sorrow of all sorrows, till in turn 

We follow them, and others mourn for us. 



^DDRESS OF JAn. POVERT, OF J^EW JORK. 

Mr Speaker: Near the closing hours of the last session of this Con- 
gress an alarm, more distinct than the sound of your gavel, bade the 
members of this House pause for a brief space in the midst of party 
discussion and of legislative action. The Great Speaker had most 
emphatically spoken. Away from this Capitol, at his own home, 
surrounded by the family he loved so tenderly and so well, your 
friend and our friend and associate, Hon. Terrknce J. Quinn, rep- 
resenting the sixteenth district of the State of New York, was sum- 
moned to the bar of a higher house than this. 

There were sad faces and sad hearts in this Chamber when the 
formal announcement of this event was made; and when, in respect 
for the memory of our dead associate, this House adjourned, it was 
\\ith the feeling, more especially perhaps on the part of the New 



ADDRESS or MR. COVERT ON THE 



York delegation who knew him best and appreciated him at his true 
worth, that a deep and painful and personal loss had been suffered 
by us. 

One of the pleasantest features, Mr. Speaker, in connection with a 
membership of this House is the warm, fraternal feeling which, with 
scarcely an exception, prevails among those having seats upon this 
floor. Party divisions exist ; differences upon matters of policy abound ; 
antagonisms are created upon almost every measure; but these di- 
visions, these differences and antagonisms, are hoirestly and squarely 
fought out upon this floor. They are not permitted to sever or to 
weaken those warm and kindly personal relations which, as silken 
cords, bind together the members of this House, and which best 
illumine and illustrate their manhood. 

Our late associate came among us a stranger perhaps to all here 
save a few of the members of the New York delegation. He was 
modest and unassuming, and yet gradually the circle of those who 
loved him for his generous virtues and admired him for his manly 
worth widened and broadened until it comprised all who were brought 
into close contact with him. 

We respect and esteem those of our public men whose eminent 
ability and learning have elevated them above the level of their fel- 
lows. We honor while we reward those whose services to their land 
or race have brought substantial benefits to us. While we do this, 
however, we take to our hearts and love with a warmer love those 
who without great learning perhaps, and without opportunities to 
accomplish grand results, yet win recognition, even while they seek 
to avoid it, by the possession of the simple virtues of honesty, fidelity, 
kindliness, and charity. 

There is a magnetism all its own in simple, abstract goodness; and 
this magnetism was possessed in an eminent degree by him from whose 
place upon this floor I speak to-day. His endowments were essen- 
tially those of the heart; his qualities those lovable and natural ones 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 33 

that make the whole world kin. Genial, kindly, and undemon- 
strative, making no effort to seem what he was not, he crept into the 
hearts of us all ; and in our hearts we gave him warm and cordial 
welcome. 

After what has been so sufficiently said by the gentlemen who 
have already spoken, I cannot feel at liberty to detain the House 
while I speak at any length of the public career of our late associate. 
Warm hearts have already suggested and eloquent lips have ex- 
pressed all that need be said perhaps in the way of personal history. 
There are various tests by which different people weigh and gauge 
the characters of their fellow-men. By some, integrity in business 
relations and enterprises is the rule by which character is estimated. 
Applying this test to my late colleague, none I venture to say will 
affirm that he fell below the very highest standard. It requires abil- 
ity, integrity, and the confidence of the people to build up and suc- 
cessfully conduct a large and important business. This result he 
achieved by earnest and honest effort, and none will or can cast the 
slightest reflections upon the methods by which this result was 
brought about. 

While different people entertain different ideas as to the means by 
which character and standing should be determined, the method 
which has received the sanction of custom and the authority of law 
should be regarded as the true one: "the speech of the people; 
what is said by those who know the man whose character is being 
discussed." Applying this test to the character of our late fellow- 
member, we have but one answer. What says the record? Nearly 
twenty years ago he was selected by the voice and the vote of his 
home people to fill a position of trust and responsibility in his native 
city, and having proven his fitness for the post, he was again and 
again re-elected to fill it. In 1861, when the call came for volun- 
teers to defend the national capital, he was among the first to re- 
spond to the call, and with the rank of second lieutenant accom- 



5 Q 



36 ADDRESS OF MR. TOWNSEND ON THE 

To US, and to the family circle from whose presence he has gone, 
should come the reflection that by a Divine law, merciful and benefi- 
cent, the repose of the peaceful night follows the labor of the busy 
day; and that while the sunlight is often lurid and disturbing, peace 
and comfort come when the shadows darken. Though the black- 
ness of the eternal night enshrouds him ; though the shadow of the 
tomb hides from our view all that was mortal of our late associate, 
there are among those who knew him best hundreds of kindly voices 
to speak his praises, hundreds of generous hearts that will forever 
keep his memory green! 



^DDRESS OF /Ar. JOWNSEND, OP J^EW Jot^. 

Mr. Speaker : I rise to add in a word my tribute to the memory 
of Hon. Terrence J. Quinn. I have known Mr. Quinn as a resi- 
dent of the city of Albany and neighbor six miles removed for many 
years. I knew him as one beloved by his associates and honored 
by his city. Not a shadow ever rested upon his honor. He was a 
patriot and an enlightened citizen. Born and bred in the ranks of 
labor, his history illustrates one of the most precious phases in Amer- 
ican life. By his industry, his integrity, and his intelligence he rose 
to the position of a member of this House. Having adorned every 
station to which he attained, his whole city met in the magnificent 
cathedral of his native town to do honor to his memory, followed 
him to his final resting-place, and shed warm, loving tears over his 
honored grave. I cordially embrace the opportunity to add my one 
word in honor of his memory. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted; and accordingly (at 
four o'clock and twenty minutes p. m.) the House adjourned. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE 



February 4, 1879. 
A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. George 
M. Adams, its Clerk, communicated to the Senate the intelligence of 
the death of Mr. Terrence J. Quinn, late a member of the House 
from the State of New York, and transmitted the resolutions of the 
House thereon. 



February 18, 1879. 

Mr. Kernan. I ask that the resolutions of the House of Repre- 
sentatives in regard to the death of Terrence J. Quinn be read. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

Resolved, That this House has heard with deep regret of the death 
of Hon. Terrence J. Quinn, a Representative from the State of 
New York. 

Resolved, That the House do now suspend the consideration of 
all other business in order to pay appropriate respect to the memory 
of the lamented deceased. 

Resolved, That in token of regret the members of this House do 
wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of this House communicate these reso- 
lutions to the Senate of the United States. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased the House do now adjourn. 



Mr. Kernan. I send to the Chair resolutions which 1 ask may 
be read. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate receives with sincere regret the an- 
nouncement of the death of Terrence J. Quinn, late a member of 
the House of Representatives from the State of New York, and offers 
to the family and kindred of the deceased the assurance of their sym- 
pathy for them under the sad bereavement they have been called 
upon to sustain. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect for the memory of the de- 
ceased the members and officers of the Senate will wear the usual 
badge of mourning for thirty days. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate is directed to transmit 
to the family of Mr. Quinn a certified copy of the foregoing resolu- 
tions. 



^DDRESS OP yVlR. j^ERNAN, OF J>JeW^ JoRK. 

Mr. President: In our country few inherit wealth, and no one 
can acquire official position or official honors by inheritance — our 
laws and political institutions afford a fair and equal opportunity to 
citizens to attain both. By industry, efiergy, and perseverance he can 
honestly and honorably accumulate wealth. By intelligence, an up- 
right life, zeal, and services for the public welfare he may successfully 
aspire to political and military honors. The career of the deceased, 
Terrence J. Quinn, illustrates these marked and admirable charac- 
teristics of our country and its political institutions. 

He had no peculiar advantages of birth or education. H is parents 
were not natives of this country. They emigrated from Ireland and 
settled in the city of Albany, in the State of New York. Mr. Quinn 
was born in that city, October i6, 1836. He resided there until his 
death, on the i8th of June, 1878. He received an ordinary Jlnglish 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF TERRENCE J. QUINN. 



39 



education in the schools and academy of the city of Albany. After 
he left school, he aided his father in the business which the latter had 
established and carried on. Soon after his majority he engaged in 
business on his own account, and by his capacity, enterprise, and 
energy, he became one of the successful business men of the city of 
his birth. As a business man, he acquired and retained the esteem 
and confidence of the entire community in which he lived. No one 
doubted that in all his dealings and transactions he was actuated by 
honesty, honor, and liberality. He was the friend of the laborer and 
always ready to aid in enterprises to promote his welfare. The poor 
and distressed found in him a warm-hearted sympathizer and a gen- 
erous friend, to whom they never appealed in vain. In his death 
they have lost a benefactor, whose kindly, unostentatious charities 
they will not forget, and whose memory they will cherish. 

He was sincerely attached to the political institutions of our coun- 
try, which gave and secured to his father that civil and religious 
liberty and equality which he did not enjoy in the land of his birth; 
and he firmly held that the Union of the States under the Constitu- 
tion must and should be preserved. When in April, 1861, the Presi- 
dent called for troops to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution 
and defend the Union, he promptly left his business and volunteered 
and served with a regiment of which he was an officer in the defense 
of the city of Washington. 

The citizens of Albany City and County, among whom he had 
lived from boyhood and who knew him well, manifested their confi- 
dence in his integrity, capacity, and sound judgment by electing him 
to represent them in the different legislative bodies for the city, the 
State, and the United State He was three times elected a member 
of the common council of the city of Albany. In 1873 he was 
elected and served as a member of the State legislature from the 
county of Albany. In 1876 he was elected a Representative in 
the Forty-fifth Congress from the si.\teenth Congressional district of 



40 ADDRESS OF MR. CONKLING ON THE 

the State of New York. He died during the second session of this 
Congress. 

He discharged the duties of the several official positions which he 
held, with conscientious fidelity and acceptably to his constituents. 
He was modest, truthful, and brave, a faithful, generous friend, a 
magnanimous opponent. He leaves hosts of friends in all the walks 
of life who mourn his untimely death. He has been taken from his 
family in the meridian of life. To his widowed wife and orphaned 
children the loss is irreparable. Time alone can assuage their grief. 
They have, however, the consolation that he leaves them a spotless 
name; that his many charities and good works will long live in the 
memory of his neighbors and friends; and they may well hope and 
believe that by these charities and good works he laid up an imper- 
ishable treasure beyond the grave, where we may hope his spirit is at 
peace. _^____^ 

yiDDRESS OF yViR. poNKLING, OF J^EW JORK. 

Mr. President : I rise to second the resolutions to which the 
Senate has listened. 

It was not my fortune to possess intimate personal acquaintance 
with Mr. QuiNN. Those who knew him well, and they were many, 
hold him in pleasant and respectful memory. 

His life and his works, unaided save by himself, earned the confi- 
dence and regard of his fellow-men. This is not scanty eulogy for 
any man. 

Born the child not of affluence and ease, but of want and toil, he 
rose to influence and prominence among his neighbors by the vigor 
of his nature. His character was actual, and upright and downright; 
his manhood was genuine and sturdy, without pretension and with- 
out self-righteousness. 

He was earnest and sincere. It was not his way to smile when he 
was not pleased, or to shake hands when he was not friendly. 



Whatsoever his hand found to do, that did he even with his might. 

He wrought in the field of things to be done, not in the medita- 
tions of things to be written and said. 

He was generous and brave. He was the steadfast friend of the 
poor, and works of quiet charity beautified his life. 

When rebellion raised its hand against the government he volun- 
teered as a soldier. He became a lieutenant, and it is said captured 
the first prisoner taken in the war, and this on the day on which 
Ellsworth was slain. His military service, if not conspicuous, was 
faithful and creditable, and he returned to his home to receive new 
proofs of the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 

For several years he was a member of the local legislature of the 
city in which he lived — the capital city of the State; and later on, 
he was chosen to the State legislature. Afterward he became a 
Representative in Congress. 

Nowhere did he forget his duty, nowhere did stain or soil attach 
to him. 

His death was starding, and more than most deaths an impressive 
admonition of the brevity and uncertainty of life. He was young, 
and noticeable wherever he appeared for his elastic, stalwart, in- 
trepid physique. 

Did he sit here to-day, we should select him as one of the last to 
enter the dark and narrow house. 

He is gone, and we are left to linger for yet a brief hour before we 
join the vanished procession of men who were. 

The origin and career of Mr. Quinn illustrate one of the gifts and 
attributes which American institutions alone in the world display to 
the children of other lands. His parents were subjects of a distant 
realm ; they were poor and untaught in our ways. Beyond hands 
willing to work, they brought nothing with them ; but our customs 
and traditions held out to them and their children free and equal 
permission to enter the battle of life. 



\ni)RESS OF MR. CONKLING. 



One of their children so fought that battle as to achieve distinc- 
tion, and win a name which the American Senate pauses to inscribe 
on its Journal as tenderly and respectfully as if he who bore it had 
been in lineage as he was in heart and deed wholly an American. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 

Mr. CoNKLiNG. Now, Mr. President, as a further mark of respect 
to the memory of Mr. Quinn I move that the Senate adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and (at si.x o'clock and twenty min- 
utes p. m.) the Senate adjourned. 



